


No Day But Today

by lunarknightz



Category: Smallville
Genre: F/M, Kissing at Midnight, New Year's Eve, New Year's Resolutions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-08-18 06:32:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8152415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarknightz/pseuds/lunarknightz
Summary: Your best friend can call you on things that no one else has the guts to.  Spoilers through "Lexmas".





	

“Here.” Clark handed Chloe a champagne flute, full of a bubbling liquid. She took a tiny sip, and the bubbles tickled her nose as she realized it was champagne.

“Ugh, Clark?” She said quietly. “This is a little bit on the gray side of legal. We’re only nineteen.”

Clark shrugged. “Hey, Mom poured. She doesn’t care, just as long as we don’t promise to drink and drive and run amok on Smallville.”

Chloe smiled. “Cool. I guess having a son that’s a little tipsy is nowhere near as bad being under the effects of silver or red kryptonite.”

“You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”

“Hey….” Chloe grinned. “I wouldn’t be doing my job as a best friend if I did!”

“Whatever.” Clark grinned, sitting down on the loft’s couch beside her. “Can you believe it’s going to be 2006?”

“Yeah.” Chloe said softly. “It seems like just yesterday that it was only 2005.”

“Who knew that champagne would make you so snarky, Chlo?”

“Oh, I’m always snarky. It’s my natural state of being. Me and snarky go together like you and flannel.”

“Whatever.” Clark rolled his eyes. “How long until the ball drops?”

Chloe checked her watch. “There’s still, like ten minutes left in 2005.”

He chuckled. “It seems like this year is just dragging on, isn’t it?”

“I have it on good authority that a watched pot never boils.” Chloe took another sip of her drink. “The more we think about it, the slower time is going to go by. So let’s talk about something else, okay?”

He sighed. “I can’t believe Lana’s not here.”

Chloe rolled her eyes. She’d been waiting for Lana’s absence to become a topic of discussion, and to Clark’s credit, Chloe had been over at the Kent’s house since seven o’clock that evening. There were some things in life that had become old hat to Chloe; and running interfernce between Clark and Lana was one of them. Usually it involved explaning Clark’s wacky behavior to Lana, but this time, she was sticking up for her perpetual roommate. “It was an amazing opportunity, Clark.” She said softly. “If she’s serious about pursuing astronomy as her field of choice, which she is, attending this retreat will really get her places. She’s the only Freshman at Metropolis University to get picked to go, that’s an enormous honor.”

“I guess.” Clark shrugged. “It’s just that it’s our first New Years together, and I really kind of pictured her being here.”

“Clark, one does not die of not having someone to kiss at midnight on New Year’s Eve. Trust me. I’ve never kissed anyone other than my father, and I’m doing fine.”

Clark blushed. That was…a little more information than he’d really wanted. “I know that Chloe. I just miss her.”

“Speaking of Lana, have you told her yet?”

Clark shook his head. “I…I haven’t had the chance.”

“If you have time for nookie Clark, you have time to tell her the truth.”

“Chloe!”

She held up her hands in defense. “I’m just saying Clark…it’s one thing to keep your secret from your friends. Hell, I understand why you did, believe me. It’s a big secret. But I’ve lived with Lana, well shared a room with her, for the better part of five years now. She doesn’t like secrets being kept from her. She has major issues with it. The longer you wait, the worse she’ll take it, and I really don’t want to be stuck in a very awkward split of my two best friends.”

“I…after I tell Lana, Chloe, things won’t be the same.”

“Clark, the only constant state of being is change. Think about last year. Things were a lot different, even a year ago.”

“Huh?”

“Last New Year’s, I didn’t know your secret. Lana had another gorgeous boyfriend, and was happy with him. You didn’t have Shelby, you were still in high school, you didn’t know about the great giant ice cave.”

“I died this year, too.”

“Yeah, and you were remarkably resurrected. Add that to your list of achievements. 2005 hasn’t been so bad, has it Clark?”

“And 2006 will be worse if Jor-El’s prediction comes true.”

“If his prediction is true, is there really anything you can do to change things, Clark? You can’t escape destiny. You told me that Jor-El is going to take someone else’s life in exchange for yours- unless you’ve been hiding a time machine from me McFly, there’s nothing you can do.”

“I feel like there should be.”

“Just because you have super powers Clark, that doesn’t mean that you have to carry the world on your shoulders. You can’t control everything. No one can.”

“I should be able to.”

Chloe slugged Clark on the shoulder lightly. “Have you not learned anything from the cautionary tale of our times, the Star Wars prequel? Anakin Skywalker wanted to control everything, and he ended up selling his soul to the dark side for some dorky breathing equipment.”

Clark laughed. “I think you missed your calling as a movie critic, Chlo.”

She shrugged. “I’m just trying to keep you from brooding your New Year’s away. It’s one of my best friend super powers.” She winked. “Seriously though, Clark. It’s going to be a whole new year pretty damn soon. And we can’t tell what will happen. So we’ve just gotta pull down our pants and slide on the ice and take things as they come. If you just angst over what’s gonna happen when before it happens, you’re going to be, like criminally insane, or something like that.”

He looked at her horrified. “Tell me you didn’t make that up yourself.”

“What, the slide on the ice thing?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“It’s from M*A*S*H, you doofus.”

“Oh.” Clark’s frown turned downwards, slightly. “What if it’s you, Chlo? If you’re the one who died….I don’t know…what I’d do without you.”

“If it’s me, then hey, I earned an extra two years. I could have died in that safe house, Clark. I don’t really want to die, but if my time comes, than I guess it’s my time. You’d get by. You’re a survivor. You’re the only survivor of a dead world, right? You’d survive without me.”

“Yeah.” He said softly. “But I wouldn’t want to.”

Chloe got choked up at Clark’s words. He did care for her, he did. Maybe not in the way she wanted him to exactly, but it was something. And right now, her relationship with Clark was the most significant relationship she had. Chloe fought back her tears. “I wouldn’t want to live without you either, Clark. Just promise me, okay? One day at a time. Worry about no day but today.”

“Okay.” He nodded.

The sound of fireworks going off in the distance met their ears a few seconds before Martha and Jonathan’s shouts from the farm house.

“See, it’s 2006.” Chloe said softly. “A brand new year.”

Clark nodded and leaned over towards her. 

“What are you doing?” She asked softly, as his face grew closer to hers.

“It’s a tradition.” He said in a low voice. “To kiss someone on New Year’s Eve, isn’t it?”

“But Lana…”

“It’s just a kiss, Chloe.” Clark said just before he kissed her lips.

Chloe didn’t bother to choke back the tears. It was much more than a kiss to her.

Chloe Sullivan began 2006 with a minty fresh mouth and a resolution to get over Clark Kent once and for all.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted December 2005.


End file.
